Wednesday, April 22, 2009

I'm including both this extended "credits" trailer and the fast action cinema trailer. Finally a movie that tells it like it is, I hope we listen. This is all the stuff and more that I have been ranting about here for the last year. Apparently from something gleamed in the other trailer my criticism of products and images of industrial farms is something Monsanto and the Agri-Biz folks would like to make illegal! Yes you read that correctly, telling the truth about agribusiness should be against the law. Or at least in the Bush/Cheney cabal's Orwellian world view it should be. That's really American isn't it? I guess the First Amendment isn't really so important now is it? Criticizing big industry should be a crime, yeah right, let them poison the planet and make us sick and also make it so we have no recourse? How fucked is that?

The sad news really is Vilsack the new Monsanto toady appointed to the Department of Agriculture is just more of the same. I just spent about a half hour going over every new appointment at the department of agriculture and I am happy to say that even though the Department is headed by Mr. Monsanto the rest of the appointees seem to be reasonable people, a few obvious political appointees of people who help get Obama/Biden elected and the rest industry professionals. No one's resume that I read had any corporate affiliation listed, which doesn't mean that they don't have any, it just means it isn't listed. Overwhelmingly Democratic, I hope this signals change we can believe in. My anger over the destruction of our food systems over the last 8 years (and well before I'd start with Nixon) makes it impossible for me at this point to really be to hopefully that any government will have the dedication, resources, will power and desire to take on big agribusiness in the radical way it needs to be done.

Thankfully there does seem to be an increasingly large number of people all over this country that are waking up to the horrific reality of how dangerous and unhealthy corporate food is.

My wish this Earth Day is a return to sustainable farming practices and a renewed awareness and dedication, by everyone, to support healthier, locally grown (when possible and practicle), organically farmed (or beyond) not factory based foods.

About Me

Urbanfoodguy aka Mark Owen Self taught cook with an environmental/political bent. 28 years of cooking experience. I live in Manhattan on the Lower East Side in an apartment with an amazing kitchen thanks to my partner of 21 + years, Neil. In the last 4 years I have focused more and more on food. It started at the same time as I was about to open up my import/retail business LaoLao Handmade. Over these years I have been a private chef, catering and 4 years of Food Styling. I've worked for most of the major food magazines such as : Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Real Simple, Oprah, Martha Stewart's Everyday Food and many more. Check out this site for some photos of my work. I've also worked in the prep kitchen for the Food Network with Bobby Flay and Paula Dean.